Blog Bat Around: Pick Only Five

The latest topic kicked off on It's Like Having My Own Card Shop when Daniel listed his top five (and more) collections he'd keep going if he had to narrow it down.  I probably should restrain myself from all the different players, sets, binders, and other mini-collections I have going on.  But I doubt I ever will, unless someday I get a life otherwise.

#5 - Narrow my player collections down to the ones I really care about.

There are several guys in my 60+ baseball player collections that were really just groups of three or four cards of the same guy in my whole collection back in the day.  They became player collections because I hadn't started a run of all the 70's sets yet.  The list was actually even longer than it is now, totaling somewhere around 80+.  Originally, I wrote it down on strips of index cards and taped them together to make a compact little list.

I called my player collections "Collectables" for years, until I figured out the official term.  Now the list is as you see it ~ with all the guys that aren't crossed off, plus a half dozen others from more modern eras.

If I were to narrow it down to just the favorites, I would go from this:

Bob Bailor     Dusty Baker     Don Baylor     Paul Blair     Vida Blue     Bobby Bonds   
Larry Bowa     Nelson Briles     Ollie Brown     Bert Campaneris     Cesar Cedeno    
Tom Cheney    Royce Clayton    Joe Coleman, Jr.    Cecil Cooper     Doug DeCinces    
Ivan DeJesus     Dwight Evans     Ron Fairly     Joe Ferguson    Carlton Fisk     George Foster
Julio Franco    Jim Fregosi     Pumpsie Green    Bobby Grich     Ron Guidry    
Livan Hernandez    Elston Howard    Bo Jackson    Grant Jackson     Puddin' Head Jones   
Charlie Keller    Steve Kemp     Don Kessinger     Dave Kingman     Chad Kuhl    Ron LeFlore
Mickey Lolich    Sparky Lyle     Brian Matusz    Bake McBride     Willie Montanez    
Mike Mussina    Claude Osteen     Jim Palmer     Bud Harrelson    Keith Hernandez    
Freddie Patek     Lou Piniella     Willie Randolph     J R Richard     Pete Richert   
Jerry Royster     Manny Sanguillen     Chris Speier     Bruce Sutter     Gene Tenace    
Luis Tiant    Joe Torre     Mike Torrez     Steve Yeager

To this:

Puddin' Head Jones     Charlie Keller     Brian Matusz    
Chad Kuhl ('cuz he's new)    Luis Tiant     Manny Sanguillen     Joe Torre    
Bert Campaneris     Jim Palmer (to a point - he's got so much),
and probably someone like Royce Clayton that I haven't nearly finished.  And I actually have a few pages of Michael Jordan baseball that I'm not too far on as well.

That culls them down to the players I have some special reason to collect.  Or at least the vintage guys I like the best.  I kinda do this already to a certain extent.  I don't pursue a lot of these guys as persistently as I do my favorites.  Once I finish their basic cards, I won't spend significantly on the other stuff.  And there is one binder with about 20 guys that I consider "finished".

#4 - Limit set building to vintage

I can see this happening for real, not only for myself, but for many other traders and bloggers that I know.  If it weren't for Stadium Club and trading for complete Topps flagship Series 1 and 2 base sets, I would not have built a single 2018 product.  Exclusive contracts have diluted the creativity of so many products that it's getting hard to find stuff I like to build in the current years.  Football is the same way, and hockey has been there too for many years.

In six cards, I can finally complete the 70's Topps sets, which I hope to do at the next Chantilly show coming up this weekend.  (Update: I did it!)  Then I'll jump on the 60's and have a 50's set or two going along the way.  Barring the discovery of large starters for things in between, I'd just concentrate on vintage and largely ignore current products.  I'm not big on rookies or shiny as it is, so there is less and less to choose from that really appeals.

#3 - The Space Binder

The one non-sport project I really enjoy is my collection of Astronaut / Planets / Moon landing cards.  There are a few sets of vintage on the subject, and the occasional celebrity set and Heritage insert.  I'm just fascinated with the Apollo Moon Landings and the Shuttle program, so the cards are a great bonus.  Would have to keep that one going for sure.


#2 - Washington Redskins Team Collection

One of the bulkiest parts of my collection as a whole, the Redskins bounce up and down my priorities, since it is so hard to track and shop for such a volume and variety of cards. 

I've got so much already, so it would be hard to flush it all.  And who would want it?  There are more nice old cards than new ones really.  If I didn't have a pre-fabbed overall list to start with, I probably wouldn't have tried to amass all Redskins cards for long.  Even though that list stopped at 2006, It's a lot easier than trying to start from scratch.



#1 - 1909 New York Giants T205 Team Set

Down to eight seven cards on this one, and it's by far the oldest collection I will probably ever have, so why stop now?

Just actually owning the Mathewson will be such a step up to another level, it will be worth it just for that.  Not to mention the sentimental value of the team photo I based it on.

The framed photo is top ten among my most valued possessions, along with the best cards in my whole collection.

Refer to my want list page for a better look at these.  Knocked off another one in Chantilly this past weekend.

Culling my collecting down to this would reduce my overall volume quite a bit.  It would be easier to organize (not that my stuff isn't already), and would save a lot of overzealous spending throughout the year.

But what fun would that be?? :)